The Softest Touch
by Padlock
Summary: Kagome learns finally how to use her Miko power and soon she needs them to rescue Rin! After the fight, Kagome is poisoned and unable to move. Will Sesshomaru decide to help or leave her behind? And how will the search for the jewel continue? / SessKag; Slightly AUish
1. Of Fear

**The Softest Touch**

**Prologue: **Of Fear

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. It's owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own money with this.

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><p>Kagome walked through the forest in which Inuyasha had once been banned onto the tree. Her black hair was tied into a low ponytail and she wore the clothing of a Miko, a white gi with red hakama and straw zoris on her feet. Her bow was slung over her shoulder and her mind was fully concentrated on the piece of paper between her index and middle finger.<p>

Kaede-sensei had given her the opportunity to train her (rather undeveloped) Miko powers while Sango-chan, Miroku-san, Inuyasha and Shippo-chan made a break and strolled through the village; training by themselves, flirting (in Miroku's case) or playing around. Inuyasha hadn't liked the thought of Kagome "dressing up" like Kikyo and wandering around by herselve but those five days under Kaede-sensei's influence had already made the black haired girl so much stronger that she felt like she had been learning for years instead of days.

While Kagome prayed and thought about the things that she still had to do (both here and at home, in her own time), she didn't notice how far she wandered into the forest. The trees became taller, shielding their green inside more and more from the spring sunlight, and the floor became muddier, the plants became rougher and greener. But Kagome still felt safe because of her aura that swung in content waves along with her steady thought of prayers.

Her blue eyes were half-closed as she made her way through the forest. After a few meters, the banner in her right hand was finished and filled with her spirit energy, coated in her Miko powers and therefore the perfect weapon against any kind of youkai. "Wow, this took me pretty long… I hope I can improve the speed," she muttered to herself and looked up, taking in her surroundings—only to gasp and turn around frantically. "Where am I?" She got lost.

Confused, Kagome put the banner under her gi and closed her eyes. While she stood completely still, she sent her spirit energy out to feel if there was any kind of living creature near. And there was someone. Black strands of hair got loose and fell into her face as she started to dash forward. The living creature was a child that was obviously in trouble since it was alone and moving fast forward. The Miko ran a few meters before she heard the child crackling through the branches beside the small way on which Kagome was standing.

The cracking went louder and louder until Rin broke sobbing panically through the last layer of thorny bushes and whirling around when she noticed Kagome's presence. "Kagome-chan?" she wailed and threw her slim body at the older girl. "What's wrong, Rin-chan?" Kagome shouted but an answer was unnecessary—two onis entered their view and growled in pure lust of blood. Immediately, Kagome pulled out the banner from before and sent it flying at the one oni where the banner stuck to his forehead and froze him on the spot.

"Run, Rin-chan!" Kagome screamed and pulled the girl along with her, stumbling over roots and small stones. Because running dumbly down the way wouldn't have been enough to confuse the oni, the black haired Miko broke into the undergrowth on the other side of the way and didn't pay attention to Rin's fearful whimpers. "Faster, Rin," Kagome said and hurried forward while still holding the girl's wrist in a tight grip. The left oni could be heard rummaging through the same undergrowth and destroying multiple trees on his way.  
>Because the oni was about the size of a small elephant, it was much easier for the both girls to move through the undergrowth. Otherwise, Kagome would have had to fight and she wasn't sure if she could handle such a big and aggressive oni on her own…<p>

After a hundred meter of thorny branches and leaves getting in their faces, they reached a small clearing. "Look, Kagome-chan!" Rin pointed at the large stone wall in front of them. "God… This is a dead end," Kagome said to herself and knew that now, fighting was her only opportunity. They were at the hellish hills at the north of Inuyasha's forest. The hills were stony at their edges and went like a snake through the land so that it was most likely that to both of their sides, there would be only one thing: more stone.

Kagome looked down at Rin and saw that here were multiple scratches on the girl's face and kimono and that her feet were bleeding. And of course she was weaponless. "Rin, listen to me," Kagome whispered and pulled the girl towards the stone wall. "You have to hide in those thorn bushes on the right. The oni comes every second and I will fight it. But you have to stay here, hidden!" Rin was too frightened to say more than "Yes" and Kagome pushed her in the direction of the thorn bushes.

The moment Rin dove into them and suppressed any cries of pain from the sharp thorns that cut her skin, the oni broke onto the clearing, roaring in impatience and more bloodlust than before. The Miko pulled an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow. Without more than a determined glare on her pale and dirty face, she shot the arrow and watched as the right arm and shoulder, as well as a part of the rib cage, vanished into the electric blue energy of her arrow.  
>Large puddles of dark youkai blood dripped on the floor and the smell of death and rotting flesh filled the air. But it wasn't enough; the nervousness and fear had made the arrow only scratch the oni. It tumbled forward and its claws ripped three deep cuts over Kagome's chest and stomach. The hot pain made her cry out and gasp before the oni's large fingers closed around her form.<p>

Desperately screaming now, she heard her bow break, as well as all of her arrows. Only her left arm was free and she gripped behind her where she clasped the ends of the four arrows in desperation and tried to pull them to the front. Three moved easily, one was stuck. She pulled harder and prayed to God that this just had to work and—after the worst seconds of her life—she succeeded. The three of the arrows were already broken, the fourth would any second.  
>Suddenly, Rin ran out of her hiding and jumped up and down in front of the stone wall while she threw stones at the oni's head. "I'm here you big, fat dummy! Come here! Come here!" One rip of the older girl broke with the tightening grip of the oni because of its annoyance and Kagome screamed. "Rin, ran away," she shouted in both panic and vain and coughed; she was running out of air. Her blue eyes were starting to give up their function. Kagome needed to put more energy than usual into the arrow. But her brain wasn't as determined to find the right words as her heart was to survive. Or so it seemed. The few seconds she mumbled a slurred prayer of hope and power felt like hours and since her bow had been crushed, the only way to fight with the arrow was to throw it.<p>

Kagome finished the prayer with a fighting scream and threw the half-broken arrow forward where the metal hit luckily the exact middle of the youkai body and the whole oni broke down and faded into green dust with a last painful whimper. The black haired Miko fell to the ground as well and landed with a dumb "thump". Rin was at her side immediately and shook the girl's shoulder forcefully, tears glistering in her large brown eyes again. "Kagome, Kagome, Kagome-nee-chan! Don't die! Please! Don't.. Don't… die!" Tears started to flow freely over the girl's cheeks but Kagome was too weak to wipe them away. She wouldn't die. With a bit of luck…

But there was just no power left to move a single finger or to speak.  
>The child continued to cry and shout her name. But there was no answer that would stop Rin from continuing to cry or that would sooth her pain. She lay down helplessly next to Kagome and curled into her side, smearing the Miko's blood on her face and kimono in the progress without even noticing or caring. <p>

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin whispered exhausted and desperate, "Please come.."

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><p>To be continued…<p> 


	2. Of Confusion

**The Softest Touch**

**Chapter 1:** Of Confusion

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahasi does. I don't earn money with this.

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><p><em>It was dark. Around her, there was nothing. Her body wasn't there; she was floating somewhere, only her soul that she was sure of. There could only be one place where the soul was that free—heaven. Or hell. But why would she land in hell? But it wasn't hot; fire wasn't eating at her body or burning her slowly away like wood in a campfire.<em>

_There wasn't any shivering from coldness, any sweating from warmness, any moaning from pain inside her. There was nothing that could have told her, she was alive. And there were no voices or sounds, either. Everything was so quiet. So numb._

_Perhaps all the hunting, all the blood, all the fighting had driven her to madness? Or she was only dreaming and in reality, Inuyasha was standing next to her impatiently, tapping angrily with his foot on the tatami of Kaede-sensei's hut and thinking to himself that her resting time had been already way too long. Shippo-chan would run around him, shouting that he was being too rough or unkind with her and Miroku would try to spy under her clothing or blanket and Sango-chan would hit him with whatever thing was next to her._

_Nervously, Kagome wanted to roll on the side, so that the rough tatami would scratch over her cheek. But then she remembered that there was no body which she could control. So this wasn't a dream, was it? Was she trapped in an illusion? And how did she leave that clearing and.. Oh God! Rin! What happened to the girl? What happened with her wounds?_

_Faintly, her soul remembered the fall to the floor from the oni's hand and Rin, shouting that she couldn't die right now. But had she died? Was she a bodyless soul now, wandering around? Was she a ghost? Or maybe, one of Kikyo's soul thieves had gotten her soul and was flying with it to the dead Miko so that her whole soul could be reunited in the dead clay body of Inuyasha's old love?_

_Questions over questions… And no answers! How could this happen? The memory of the fight was fuzzy but had all of this been her mistake? Her, Kagome's, fault? If she would give up the will to live right now, then maybe this would lead…_

"Miko." _Would lead to… _"Miko."_ Maybe then she could understand how… _"Kagome-nee-chan! Please! Can you hear us? Kagome-nee-chan…!" _**Rin!**_

With every bit of her weakened willpower, Kagome made her eyes burst open and her blue orbs were staring in bright light without seeing something except black shadows. A buzzing flooded her ears and all she could do was lay and stare. But the more she stared, the clearer the shadow became. The largest shadows sat to her right and hung the half way over her torso, peering down and crying frantically as if the Miko laid on her deathbed. (Well, maybe that was how Rin had saw her until she had opened her eyes, seconds ago…)

"R-Rin," Kagome croaked but wasn't sure if her voice had been loud enough for the girl to hear. "Rin, can you hear me? I… I'm okay… Okay, you see? I live." But Rin was crying more and more with every word that sprung from the Miko's lips. Not understanding what was wrong with being okay, Kagome moved her gaze to the side and managed to avoid gasping. Sesshomaru sat to her left and peered straight into her face. His long, white hair shimmered in the broad daylight and the markings on his face were outstanding. She was amazed.

"Kagome! Kagome!" Rin's panicked shoutings were slowly irking her. What was wrong? The black haired girl frowned but panicked herself when she _saw_ _how her view moved to a higher angle._ Someone _moved _her body; she didn't even have the intention to change her position at all! What in Kami's name was happening?

Sesshomaru had slung an arm around the Miko's shoulders and observed her face closely. "Quiet, Rin," he instructed and his deep voice rumbled. He could understand Rin's sorrow over the girl (though he had never thought their relationship would be _this_deep) but his earlier made assumption was proving itself to be right now. "Miko. Can you hear me? Look in my eyes for "Yes" and to Rin for "No". Can you hear me?"

Irritated, the girl looked into the golden youkai eyes. "Do you feel pain?" She switched her stare to Rin for a second. "Do you feel my arm around your shoulders? My hand behind your head? Rin holding your hand?" The azure blue eyes were rushing from side to side in a speed that Sesshomaru couldn't understand how she expected to see something with every look. "Miko!" The blue eyes locked again onto Rin's face and the little girl sniffled and pulled the lifeless hand of the Miko to her face, pressing her small cheek against the motionless palm.

"Listen, Miko." Maybe he should have found another way to get answers out of her—her attention was easily moved away from him. The Miko stared once more into his eyes and he found himself feeling quit uncomfortable. Sesshomaru had never been a friend of the humans and even if this was the "legendary" Miko who brought back the jewel or who was tolerating the existence of the half-breed… She was still a human female and in general too close to his liking.

But when he had found Rin after that oni tribe had dared to drive his pack into different directions, he just couldn't rip the girl from the Miko and leave. He remembered the jolt that went through his body when he had seen the Miko on the floor, lifeless, and Rin clinging to her and crying as loud as she could with a puddle of blood between them. He couldn't have had possibly let the Miko there—Rin's crying alone would have attracted youkais from over ten miles away. So he had the (luckily only lightly hurt) Rin riding to their camp on Aa-Un and had personally swept the Miku up on his arms.

And then he had looked over her the whole night until now. Rin had joined him after she had slept a restless sleep for about four hours. "Miko. The youkai you fought were actually zombies with the appearance of simple oni. Their claws bear a poison which they inject through cutting their victims." He saw her eyes widen slightly. "You were cut on your back, over your chest, on your stomach and over your legs." The confusion in her eyes was practically physical. "The first time the poison enters your body; your nerves are only numbed slightly. You feel pain only for seconds and after more than one stroke, every feeling vanishes and after a few minutes, your ability to move muscles disappears."

If the poison hadn't hindered her, the Miko would have started to cry in his arms. He could see it; feel the emotion wavering from her aura, resembling a helpless cry.

After seeing the expression of suffering along the Miko on Rin's face, the daiyoukai continued. He had no intention of making them cry any more than they already had. (And those sniffling sounds were starting to get annoying, too.) "But the poison will be cured by your body in some time. Most likely in about two weeks, you will be able to move like you were before this incident." As it seemed, those two human girls were two to surprise (and irritate) him more then he liked because they were staring at him with a sorrowful face (Rin) and sorrowful eyes (the Miko).

Unfortunately, the question of _why_the Miko was worried could not be solved with "Yes" or "No". And this Sesshomaru was not one for guessing games. In his confusion, he turned to the second girl. "Do you know why the Miko is sorrowed, Rin?" The small girl wiped over her cheeks with the sleeve of her orange and white checkered kimono, before she managed to answer her beloved master. "Rin doesn't know. But maybe it's because Kagome-nee-chan is sad for not being able to move for two weeks?" The white haired youkai knew that the black haired girl was practically letting her eyeballs spring out of her head by staring as hard at his face as she did for confirming Rin's words.

How annoying… He was sure to regret the decision of rescuing the Miko instead of leaving her to rot in the dirt. "Since you seem so extremely unhappy with that amount of time, I think I could talk to an old friend of mine. He is a poison master and surely could help with your situation." Her blue eyes continued to linger on his face, eventually dropping to his markings, the moon on his forehead or his fangs as he spoke. For a reason he really couldn't name, Sesshomaru felt the same strangeness from before; a strange sensation in his chest that made him want to release the Miko.

"Would this be in your interest?" the daiyoukai inquired—ignoring the strange feeling momentarily—and found the girl still staring into his eyes with a consequence that he slowly thought she was starting to enjoy this. So, yes, she wanted him to take her to his "friend". "But this friend may want paying because you are a human, a Miko on top of that. Do you still wish to take that risk upon you?"

_The answer was, yes, she wanted, as much as she wanted to continue studying him with a good excuse at her hands. He had made the offer and his youkai pride surely forbid him to take it back without a _very_good reason. Normally, Kagome wasn't a girl to use other's weaknesses but if this one and only Sesshomaru made an offer like this without being able to turn his back on her; how could she not take this opportunity?_

_So she just stared at him and wanted nothing more than to lift a hand and touch his moonlight colored hair. Of course she knew that even if she could move, there was no way she had such a strong death wish that she would stroke through his precious hair. She was a time-travelling Miko from Tokyo, not mad._

_Rin looked happy and nuzzled her cheek again against her palm. Kagome watched, strangely bewildered with the displayed scene because it was just so strange to saw your own hand touch something but feel no touch (anything at all, really) at the same time. She wanted to speak, tell Sesshomaru a bit of the gratefulness she felt but… Her babbling would surely upset him. (The daiyoukai wasn't called the silent, strong and merciless Lord of the West for no reason, right?)_

"Rin, you are going to stay here with Aa-Un and Jaken. I will put barriers around this clearing and Jaken… If you dare to leave the child alone, you will not see the sun rise for another time when I am finished with you." Sesshomaru's cold voice dripped of authority as he told the three staying parts of his group more instructions. Somehow, he must have noticed her questioning staring because he gave her a short, emotionless look and finished explaining how to behave while his absence and then turned to look at her again.

It must have been obvious to him that she was feeling uncertain, nervous and irritated because a mere glint of amusement sparked through his eyes for a second as he swept her up in his arms and gave her a crooked smirk with the right corner of his mouth. "This Sesshomaru will carry you and you won't complain. The journey will not take long; the next evening, we will already have returned to this clearing." With those words—and this time not waiting for her staring-response—he jumped into the air and into the woods.

_Kagome couldn't feel the up and down of his running or the branches stroking over her skin when Sesshomaru thought it wouldn't hurt her. What she felt was the excitement of being carried in the youkai's arms for over two hours. And the worst part was, the Miko knew that she should have been excited for the antidote of the poison instead of lying in the arms of an enemy.  
>Did you found the mistake in her feelings? Kagome did and she certainly tried her best to forget about it until they arrived at their goal—thoughts like that would make things complicated. (But of course, things would turn complicated, anyway. As always.)<em>

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><p><strong>To be continued…<strong>

(Thank you for the reviews, favorites and alerts! :) I hope I can update soon but we will see how it goes. Thank you again and see you soon!

P.S.: You may also pose requests/questions/wishes. I love to see what readers expect of a story. (Of course, this is not needed for The Softest Touch to continue. :)


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